Pinchy in the ball area
I am a huge fan of British TV. Spaced, which was just released on region 1 DVD, is one of my favourite shows of all time. I’ve spent many hours watching Tim (Simon Pegg), Daisy (Jessice Hynes), and the rest of the crew get in and out of all kinds of hilarious folly. Factor in the many hours I’ve spend watching Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, The Office, Red Dwarf, and Coupling (to name a few), and I’ve had my fair share of screen-time with British shows.
Today I came across this trailer for a new show called “No Heriocs“, that follows the off-duty interactions of a group of four friends who happen to be super heroes. From what I can gather the city is full of super-powered people and none of them have anything to hide. This is the first I’ve heard or seen of this show but I’m hooked already. I laughed out loud a couple of times while watching it. I expect to be watching a lot of this when it premieres in September.
Check it out, and let me know if you think it looks as funny as I do.
Gear at Fan Expo 2008
Not only does Fan Expo have all sorts of movie and video game stuff as well as miles and miles of comics, but there are certain booths that offer such unique merchandise that it bears looking at. One of the booths that kept catching my eye was for a company called “Universal Designs”. While they wouldn’t be making your Batman costume for you, they sure as hell seem to know how. Some of the costumes they have created for Ubisoft and others include the yellow-masked player character from “Haze”, Batman, and Spawn. There were a few other disembodied heads on display that were equally as cool including the demon played by Tim Curry in “Legend”.
We spoke to Universal Designs’ David Pea about what Universal Designs does and it sounds like one hell of a cool job.
David Pea - Universal Designs from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
Speaking of cool, if your sense of cool leans to the more macabre you may get a kick out of an onlikne boutique called Vampirewear.com. They specialise in all the gack necessary for the hip urban vampire. From blood charms to fingerbone necklaces.
Vampirewear.com from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
Fan Expo 2008 Goodies
One of the great things about going to something like Fan Expo is that you never know what, or who, you will bump into. It was at Fan Expo that I was exposed to some things that I might not have otherwise experienced. Sure, I was going to check out the Toronto After Dark Film Festival booth, and to get Boba Fett to sign my gack, but there was just so much to see.
I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of this with. Cuz that’s the kind of guy I am.
Hoverboy
I am an idiot. Most people who know me, know that to be true. It doesn’t need to be explicitly stated. It is just an unspoken understanding between adults and their invisible friends. I was visually assaulted at a booth for something called “Hoverboy” which appeared to be a Golden Age superhero who was, I was assured, making a comeback. Further scrutiny revealed that it was all a bit intentionally misleading but chatting with the man who initially spoke to me was an hilarious romp through speculative history as I was given the guided tour of the Hoverboy “museum”. The guy spoke so fast and so passionately that I barely had time to turn my camera on before he was off on the next bit of verbal riff. I was awestruck and I do have to say that “Hoverboy” became my favourite booth and I am now a proud owner of a Hoverboy Comic and Hoverboy DVD.
What does this have to do with me being an idiot? Well once our conversation was done I introduced myself and thanked him for the experience. He responded by saying “I’m Ty,” and we shook hands. about two minutes later I realised that I had benn speaking to Ty Templeton.
Again. Idiot.
Ty Templeton Talks Hoverboy from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
Crossfire.
This is a Free-To-Play, Free-To-Download multiplayer FPS that reminded me very much of Counterstrike. I was assured that beastly PCs will not be required to play, and that the game will run smoothly even on lower end PCs. How low-end was not specifically stated, and that can be a relative term. The framerate was smooth and the people at the booth were very enthusiastic.
Crossfire from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
United Free Worlds
Again in the realm of comics, I had an opportunity to speak to the folks behind “United Free Worlds”. What caught my eye? Well how about a giant 10 foot poster depicting Tanks VS Dinosaurs.
Uh-huh I was totally sold too.
United Free Worlds from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
Champions Online
I used to be a PC only kind of guy. That was the one box I would play all my video games on. Then I became a parent. Things changed VERY quickly. One of the things I miss most about my PC days was jumping in to World of Warcraft. I did so love that game. The time came where I just couldn’t afford to spend the time in Azeroth as much as I would have liked to.
Along comes “Champions Online” by Cryptic Studios. “Champions” does away with classes and archetypes and leans more towards action-oriented gameplay. We had an opportunity to play through a little bit with a prefab character and we admit we do look forward to adventuring in capes and cowls. The session we were playing did suffer a fair amount of lag, but I am not going to condemn something based on a three minutes of gameplay. Especially when the game had been running for at least two days straight. The models looked good, the style was attractive and the environments were gorgeous. I think there is a lot of potential here for an incredible fun experience.
Cryptic Studios offered one of the most fun little freebies of the entire expo by handing out what they called “Superhero IDs”. After passing back and forth we had to take the opportunity to get our very own superhero ID and managed to stumble our way in to the line. What I will say is that masks can look very cool. On other people. If I were a superhero, I would likely need to hit a custom superhero costume shop that specializes in large heads. The mask I ended up trying on, was more like a torture device that pinched my eyelids down to my cheeks and squeezed my giant melon around the middle. The end result was so the opposite of cool, that I am almost sure this picture is somewhere on a CSIS Database that monitors what neighbourhood I am living in and requires me to stay 50 yards away from any playground or school.
What is exciting about this unique game, is that not only will the game be playable on the PC, but will also be playable on the Xbox 360. We can’t wait to check out more of this groundbreaking game and will keep our eyes peeled for more details.
Senior Game Designer Randy Moziondz was more than gracious in talking to me on camera and giving us a quick rundown on Champions Online.
Champions Online from Renerd.com on Vimeo.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2008
Well it looks like that time of year again. There is a chill in the air, the leaves begin to turn colour, and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival is ready to announce its first 8 films for this year. We had a chance to stop by the booth at Fan Expo 2008 and talk with Festival Director Adam Lopez, whose enthusiasm is as infectious as it is genuine.
While I won’t go in to boring details, I will say that if you like what you see and what you hear, definitely check out all the latest information on the Toronto After Dark Film Festival at their site. Tickets go on sale VERY soon and I highly recommend you pick them up earlier rather than later as it may be your ONLY chance to see some of these great films on the big screen.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival at Fan Expo 08 from Renerd.com on Vimeo.